What are the pluses?

In part 1 of my guide for marketers we learned how Google+ works, which helpful tools can help you use it more efficiently, and how its interconnectivity and ability to target content at specific interest audiences holds the key to its appeal, particularly when using it in a marketing context .

This second offering will outline how and why Google+ can improve your digital marketing strategy, increase your online profile and be used in a targeted way to market to both existing and potential customers.

As with any social media platform, engagement and traction with interested parties is the name of the game for Google+, and as I explained in Part 1, it has been created to discourage spamming of contacts and spammy content. Google+ is a professional tool which will reward users with professional results – and improved signals to Google itself if used correctly.

The importance of sorting and building circles correctly can’t be overstated. The number of people you influence with various material all depends on how well you are aligning your content to their interests. Building circles should be conducted based on the type of content people are sharing, what their interests are and how well they fit with your brand’s messaging. The more relevant your circle members are to your business and brand, the more impetus Google will place on your Google+ presence and their actions in relation to your content.

Much like targeted direct marketing and customer engagement via social media, this process works best if marketers have established a positive relationship with those contacts targeted with particular materials first.

Getting engaged

Once a brand or professional presence has been established on Google+, with an eye catching, well composed brand page which really conveys the personality and unique selling points of your brand, publishing relevant and engaging content is crucial. Treat your Google+ presence like a mini-blog, and include items like guides, infographics, opinion and information driven content as well as series of content, all of which should maintain that personality and remain as snappy and accessible as possible. Long-winded, dry or overly-technical content is not as appealing to share, and will hold you back, particularly if you want to increase your engagement and circles.

Once you’ve established your initial network of contacts (Circles), which begins with selecting the most appropriate people to start connecting with and continues with a mixture of organic growth through the sharing and +1ing (equivalent of ‘liking’ of your posts), you should start to group them.

One excellent aspect of Google+ is the option to be able to sort your contacts or circles in terms of their levels of engagement with your content, and then communicate with interested parties via messaging and circle building to share further content. In this respect Google+ reflects very much your ‘real’ or offline professional and personal networks, with differing areas of interest for each individual and group.

Creating Google+ Circles for ‘new engagers’ and ‘increased engagers’ is a good place to start, particularly as it means you can then thank increased engagers for their commitment and interest. Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly for sharing relevant content is the option to create circles based on interests (a contact can be placed in as many relevant circles as you wish), and correspond directly with contacts via notifications.

Once you have identified which of your contacts are interacting with and sharing which content most, building interest groups based on this is the logical next step, and from here you can establish whether or not they wish to be notified when new posts on that theme are posted. Again this is a very simple process, and upholds Google+’s penchant for relevant content and lack of spamming behaviour by establishing ‘permission’ to contact certain followers about content.

A simple way to do this is to invite people to interact with a post by +1ing or commenting to establish their interest in receiving notifications before creating a public opt in circle. This will allow you to build the circle further, picking up followers from outside your circles searching for content on your topic. As marketers, engaging with a willing and interested audience in this way has huge value in terms of creating brand advocates who will share content with like-minded people and will have a significant impact on your Google+ presence and its traction.

Let’s Hangout

Last but by no means least, the personalised approach can be used for Google+ Hangouts, pushing the quality of communication between your brand and its spokespeople and target audiences one degree further. As marketers we all know the importance of showing the human face of a brand and indeed some humour and reciprocity, and Google+ has provide us with the perfect outlet for this new “See Commerce”: Google+ Hangouts. Using the same ‘personalisation principles’ mentioned above, there is plenty of scope for communicating effectively with existing and potential customers, brand advocates and industry influencers. You can conduct text Hangouts, group private Hangouts for up to nine guests or even stream video content live via your YouTube channel with Hangouts on Air for more general content or company announcements. More targeted or special interest content groups can be arranged using the ‘opt in’ methods outlined above. Hangouts provide a great opportunity to create an online community, gain quality feedback and ideas from participants and most of all, positive brand resonance.

In Part 3 I’ll be looking at how you can evaluate your marketing success on Google+, and will highlight how some of the most successful brands, businesses and individuals are marketing their products and services using Google+.

 

By Kath Dawson, creative director at Strategy Digital. 

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